Good Sound Advice wins Hoosier Invitational

In near gate-to-wire fashion, Good Sound Advice and driver Peter Wrenn captured the co-featured event of the evening, a $22,000 Invitational Trot, at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino on Saturday. Slightly dismissed at the windows at 4-1, Good Sound Advice was able to hold off his rivals late in the lane to score in 1:55, just a tick off his career best.

Leaving from post five in the eight-horse field, Wrenn sent Good Sound Advice away from the gate alertly but Facing Justice, driven by Jason Dillander, left the quickest. Facing Justice secured the lead around the first quarter mark in :28 while the rest of the field sorted out the early positions. Opting out of a pocket-trip, Wrenn sent Good Sound Advice to the front and the top pair swapped spots going to the half. Good Sound Advice seemed to relax on the front and continued to dictate fractions of :58.2 and 1:26.4.

As the field rounded the final turn, Good Sound Advice looked large on the front and began to trot away from the field. Final Breath and Hugh Beatty overcame a tough first-over trip to rally late in the lane but had too much ground to make up. Using a :28.1 final panel, Good Sound Advice coasted to the wire to win by a length and a half.

Final Breath finished a game second while Martz Time and LeWayne Miller also rallied late to round out the trifecta. As the publics' third choice, Good Sound Advice returned $10.40 to his backers.

"He is so much better with a trip and I was really hoping someone would come cover me up,” winning driver Wrenn noted. "But the way the race worked out, I was able to give him a breather down the backside and when he got away from them he felt really good. He was good tonight.”

Trained by Melanie Wrenn, Good Sound Advice scored his second win from six seasonal outings. The gelded son of Kadabra-Good As Your Word has now won eight of 62 lifetime outings while bankrolling $282,807 lifetime for his connections of Wrenn Racing LLC and Oldford Farms.

On the pacing side of things, Jammin Joshua and Sam Widger delivered as the heavy betting favorite in the $22,000 Invitational Pace with a final time in 1:51.1. Using a sharp, front-running effort, Jammin Joshua rattled off fractions of :26, :55.4, and 1:24 before holding off a late charge from Nitro and Ricky Macomber Jr. to score his second win of the season.

As the even money favorite, Jammin Joshua returned $4.20 at the betting window for the win. Nitro got up for the second-place finish while Rustle's Chip and Don Eash battled gamely to round out the trifecta. (Hoosier Park)